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Court Upholds $3.7 Million Age Discrimination Verdict Against IBM

Eric Paltell
Eric Paltell
07/27/2014
Age Discrimination
On July 23, 2014, a  federal court in Connecticut  upheld a jury's award of $3.7 million to a 61 year old executive fired after 41 years with IBM. Castellucio v. Int'l Bus. Machs. Corp. (D. Conn. No 3:09-cv-01145 July 23, 2014).  The Court held that the jury properly awarded $2.5 million for age discrimination, and an additional $1.2 million for attorneys' fees and costs. The case arose when Joanne Collins-Smee became Castellucio's supervisor,...
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Maryland Court Rejects Retaliation Claim Based on Frivolous EEOC Charge

Randi Klein Hyatt
Randi Klein Hyatt
06/10/2014
Age Discrimination, Retaliation
The United States District Court for the District of Maryland held that employees do not engage in protected activity by refusing to comment about the work of a co-worker and/or that a conversation transpired between a supervisor and employees. Kearns v. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., No. ELH-11-1736 (D. Md., May 23, 2014). Michael Kearns alleged that his former employer, Northrup Grumman Systems Corporation, violated Title VII and the ADEA by...
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Court Rules That Allstate Left Its Agents in Good Hands

Clifford Geiger
Clifford Geiger
03/18/2014
Age Discrimination, Agency Activity
In 1999, Allstate Insurance Company fired all of its employee agents and offered them four alternatives:  (1) convert to an independent contractor status and continue working as an exclusive agent; (2) convert to independent contractor status and sell the book of business they had developed; (3) receive an enhanced severance equal to one year’s pay; or (4) receive a basic severance of up to thirteen weeks of pay.  The first three options were...
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Exhaustion of FMLA Leave with No Return Date Dooms Plaintiff’s Claims

Garrett Wozniak
Garrett Wozniak
11/18/2013
Age Discrimination, Disability & Leave, FMLA
In Owens v. Calhoun County School District, No. 12-60897 (Oct. 8, 2013), the Fifth Circuit upheld a district court’s granting of summary judgment to an employer on a former employee’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) claim. Karen Darlene Mann Owens taught at Bruce Upper Elementary School in Mississippi for seventeen years until she was fired in February 2010.  Owens suffered from neck and back pain, conditions which worsened over the...
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Law School Has Right To Decide The Qualifications It Wants In Its Professors

Garrett Wozniak
Garrett Wozniak
07/02/2013
Age Discrimination, Employment Discrimination, Public Sector Employment Law
Earlier this year, the Court of Specials Appeals found in favor of the University of Baltimore School of Law (UB) in an age discrimination suit brought by Donald Dobkin.  Dobkin v. Univ. of Balt. Sch. of Law, 210 Md. App. 580 (2013). In 2009, Dobkin applied to become a professor at the University.  Instead of hiring the then 56-year-old Dobkin (or hundreds of other applicants), UB hired a 32-year-old female for the position.  Dobkin then sued the...
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Supreme Court To Decide Age Discrimination Claims For Government Employees

Randi Klein Hyatt
Randi Klein Hyatt
03/20/2013
Age Discrimination, Public Sector Employment Law
This past Monday, March 18, 2013, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Madigan v. Levin, an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) case from the Seventh Circuit.  In Madigan, the issue  is whether state and local government employees can bring age discrimination claims directly under the Equal Protection Clause through Section 1983. The Seventh Circuit’s opinion conflicts with that of the First, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, each of...
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